Attracting and educating the right supply chain managers are a critical challenge to the realization of most supply chain objectives irrespective of the state of the economy (shortage of personnel several months ago or increasing lay‐offs currently). This is because of the richness of capabilities required to do the job well. Much of our teaching in logistics and supply chain management focus…
Since the 1998 Strategic Defense Review, the UK Government reversed its competition policy and now seeks to improve defense procurement relationships with industry through partnering. However, at a time when the defense industries are concentrating and globalizing and more and more of the large contracts are being managed under monopoly conditions, substantive relationship improvements are hard…
Cluster analysis provides a statistical method whereby unknown groupings of similar attributes can be identified from a mass of data and is well-known within marketing and a wide range of other disciplines. This paper seeks to describe the use of cluster analysis in an unusual setting to classify a large sample of dyadic, highly interdependent, supply chain relationships based upon the quality …
This paper investigates customer perceptions on three key logistics outsourcing decisions: why to outsource, what to outsource and how to manage satisfaction within third party logistics providers (3PLs) partnerships. In addition to an analysis of the current literature, a Europe-wide postal and telephone survey revealed that outsourcing in the consumer good industry is heavily service driven a…
Within the supply chain the need for much closer, long‐term relationships is increasing due to supplier rationalisation and globalisation and more information about these interactions is required. The research specifically tested the well‐accepted Williamson's economic organisations failure framework as a theoretical model through which long‐term collaborative relationships can be viewed.
Business‐to‐business, supply chain relationships within sustained monopolies, such as those within UK defence procurement, have received scant attention by management researchers. This paper describes the results from a substantial, exploratory research project that used Williamson’s organisations failure framework as a theoretical model. Surprisingly, it revealed that many issues surro…
Since the late 1950s it has been recognised that the systems used internally within supply chains can lead to oscillations in demand and inventory as orders pass through the system. The uncertainty generated by these oscillations can result in late deliveries, order cancellations and an increased reliance on inventory to buffer these effects. Despite the best efforts of organisations to stabi…
Are lateral transshipments an effective instrument to ensure the safe and efficient supply of blood? This paper will use the lens of institutional theory to determine how the blood supply chain can benefit from lateral transshipments and what requirements are necessary for their implementation. The paper aims to discuss these issues.